A 3-Generation Taste for Chocolate
By EMILY DeNITTO
Published: April 1, 2007

Karl Krause remembers his first chocolate — a coconut-filled piece of chocolate, to be precise — as a clandestine thrill he discovered at age 5 in his family’s hallway closet.

Today, Mr. Krause, 41, is free to start every day with a piece of dark-chocolate-covered nut and caramel. And as the third-generation owner of Krause’s Chocolates in Saugerties, that is exactly what he does.

Chocolate aficionados have reason to be envious.

Krause’s chocolates are handmade daily with fresh ingredients (many of them are also organic), so they always have a just-made, deliciously fragrant taste.

 The myriad centers, from creams to butter crunch to peanut brittle, are cooked in a big copper pot, then individually hand dipped with special implements so that each chocolate looks slightly different from the next. There are 45 varieties ($9.95 a pound for most; $17.90 a pound for hand-rolled truffles). An extra-dark version, recently added, has a high cocoa content that makes for a stronger, pleasantly bitter taste.

The Krause family recipes have been around for nearly 80 years. Mr. Krause’s grandfather, Alfred Krause, apprenticed as a candy maker in Germany before immigrating to the United States and eventually opening a shop in Forest Hills, Queens. His son, Manfred, opened the Saugerties store in 1972, and Karl Krause took over in 2001.

Krause’s is a sunny, lively, well laid-out place just off Esopus Creek that always offers some kind of seasonal treat. Chocolate-covered strawberries were available for Valentine’s Day, and chocolate bunnies currently abound.

If you can’t make it to Saugerties, orders can be made online. Internet-based purchases, first offered about two years ago, now make up 10 percent of sales.

EMILY DeNITTO